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Aldon Smith: 49er tried to shoo guests when he was stabbed at 2012 party outside San Jose

Bay City News Service

Posted:
09/25/2013 06:38:37 AM PDT

Updated:
09/25/2013 06:40:14 AM PDT

SAN JOSE -- Prosecutors have released details in a criminal case against a man set for a court appearance Monday on charges he stabbed San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith during a party outside San Jose in 2012.

Steven Raymond Barba, 27, allegedly stabbed Smith after the NFL player tried to break up the party at a four-story home Smith rented in the mountains east of San Jose, according to Santa Clara County deputy district attorney Frank Carrubba.

Barba is charged with assault with a deadly weapon with a gang enhancement in the attack on Smith and is also facing charges as a felon possessing a firearm and ammunition at the hearing Monday in Superior Court in San Jose, Carrubba said.

Smith suffered minor injuries in the stabbing and two male guests were wounded in gunfire during Smith's large party attended by "hundreds" of people in his home early in the morning of June 30, 2012, according to Carrubba.

Smith and the two shooting victims were treated by Santa Clara County emergency personnel dispatched to the home in the 4000 block of Higuera Highland Lane at 2:14 a.m., according to sheriff's deputies.

Late into party and prior to the stabbing and shootings, someone brandished a firearm at a bartender and "that is what catalyzed" the turn of events that followed, Carrubba said.

Smith heard about the firearm brandishing while he was upstairs in his home, came downstairs, announced to people congregating in the front of his home to leave and started closing his garage door, Carrubba said.

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Someone then fired three shots; one round went under the closing garage door and two more into it. The rounds missed Smith and others in the garage and lodged in the rear of the garage, Carrubba said.

Smith then went back upstairs into to a bedroom, retrieved a handgun, went onto the balcony outside the room and fired the gun into the air to serve notice on people to vacate the property, Carrubba said.

Believing that it was safe, Smith returned to his garage and opened the door, but hundreds of people still remained outside.

As Smith walked out of the garage, he had a brief encounter with another person who voiced "a gang slur" to him, Carrubba said.

Smith then told the people outside, "This is my house. I'm Aldon Smith," thinking, he later told investigators, that his notoriety would persuade them to leave, but people told him they did not care who he was, Carrubba said.

Suddenly, someone stabbed him twice, wounding him superficially, although he said did not realize it at first and kicked the person who stabbed him, Carrubba said.

When he reentered the garage, he noticed he was bleeding.

At that point, Smith's roommate, former 49er tight end Delanie Walker, took a .45 caliber handgun, walked out onto the driveway and shot the gun to cause whoever fired into the garage to flee, Carrubba said.

Someone from the crowd returned gunfire toward Walker, wounding two men, later identified as Ronndale Esporlas and Aaron Reyes, who were accidentally hit in the crossfire, Carrubba said.

Smith later recognized Barba as the person who stabbed him after investigators showed him surveillance video of the attack, Carrubba said.

Barba was first charged as a felon possessing a firearm and ammunition on Dec. 10, 2012.

After months of investigation by the district attorney's office, Barba was charged in the stabbing, and with an enhancement allegation for participating in a criminal street gang, on June 20, Carrubba said.

The case is still being investigated and the persons responsible for shooting into the garage and for wounding Esporlas and Reyes have not been identified, Carrubba said.

Another suspect originally charged with Barba in the case, Christopher Sanchez, 20, was released on his own recognizance after the district attorney's office was not able to connect him to the case, Carrubba said.

Both Esporlas and Reyes have filed suit against Smith and Walker for damages for their injuries at the party.

Smith was arrested in San Jose last Friday on suspicion of DUI and possession of marijuana and released on bail.

On Sunday, after playing for the 49ers against the Indianapolis Colts in San Francisco, Smith apologized for the arrest and announced he would take an "indefinite" leave from playing for the NFL team.